At every stage of understanding the universe better, the benefits to civilisation have been immeasurable. None of those big leaps were made with us knowing what was going to happen.

Look at that! If you ever needed convincing that we live in the solar system, that we are on a ball of rock, orbiting around the Sun with other balls of rock, then look at that! That's the solar system coming down and grabbing you by the throat.

As we get older, things seem less important.

(On the energy radiated by the Sun) It's four hundred million million million million watts. That is a million times the power consumption of the United States every year, radiated in one second, and we worked that out by using some water, a thermometer, a tin, and an umbrella. And that's why I love physics.

An explorer of the universe is sexier than a musician.

Skepticism must go hand in hand with rationality. When theories are shown to be false, the correct thing to do is to move on.

What scientists are attached to is journeys into the unknown and discovering things that are completely unexpected and baffling and surprising.